A PROMINENT Rangers fan awoke last week to find a pile of ashes dumped on his back doorstep.

It came as something of a surprise, not least because he doesn’t have a coal fire. Their origin remains a mystery and thankfully, not being a sensitive type, the person in question refuses to be intimidated.

This morning, a pyre will burn the height of the Union Flag on Edmiston Drive, this time from the efforts of the Requisitioners who tried – and appear to have failed – to win the heart and soul of the Ibrox boardroom.

Paul Murray, Malcolm Murray, Scott Murdoch and Alex Wilson will leave the scene as rebels without applause, having being stymied in their efforts to bring stability and transparency to the most controversial board since Randle McMurphy established a residents’ committee at the Cuckoo’s Nest.

The Requisitioners must accept the bulk of the blame, but not all of it, for the position Rangers fans will find themselves in today.

A few thousand will gather at their spiritual home and do nothing more than howl at the moon from their shareholder seats in the Main Stand while powerless to act. At least for the next few months.

Paul Murray has tried on at least three occasions to lead a takeover of the club and while he has brought energy and passion, he has lacked a coherent strategy.

Those who know him confirm he’s a decent, honest broker but his PR approach has been scattergun at best. A lack of decisive action at key stages also suggests he’s been out of his depth against more ruthless rivals.

Finance director Brian Stockbridge has been targeted, and rightly so, but greater emphasis should have been placed on the role of the Easdale brothers.

After all, it was the bus tycoons who were given the proxies by Blue Pitch and Margarita Holdings when Charles Green and Imran Ahmad stepped back, but arguably not away, from the running of the club.

The Requisitioners should have made a greater play to institutional investors that the last thing Rangers needed was to become embroiled in more controversy linked to HMRC.

Oldco may have ultimately won the EBT case but it was its presence hanging over Ibrox that allowed Craig Whyte to seize control, only to plunge it into administration over his failure to pay £9million in tax.

Now Rangers are controlled by Sandy Easdale, who was jailed for 27 months in 1997 for a VAT fraud and holds sway at Rangers for an initial investment of only £1.5m.

Greater play should have been made of the need for serious financial players to rehabilitate Rangers, not for the club to be used to rehabilitate individuals in the eyes of corporate Scotland.

The failure of the rebels to seize the initiative when it was in their grasp has come back to haunt them time and again.

They withdrew their demand for an egm in September, for example, to save the club £60,000 by rolling it into an agm promised in October.

It bought the board more time at a stage when Green and Chris Morgan of Blue Pitch Holdings were at loggerheads and the institutional investors were never more receptive to boardroom change.

Their chance was gone for good.

Former chairman Malcolm Murray? A busted flush.

Malcolm Murray (Photo: Reuters)

If his contacts in the City were so good then more should have voted by proxy against the board.

Alex Wilson and Scott Murdoch? They have solid business pedigrees but rarely went on the front foot to sell their vision of the future to fans.

The role of the owner of Clyde Blowers also has to be examined.

Jim McColl became the Jim Bowen of the boardroom battle with his message to Rangers fans effectively one of “look what you could have won”.

His failure to commit his wealth to the fight alienated investors and appeared arrogant and flawed.

He argued he was locked into an agreement with investors in his existing businesses. But even if he had promised his millions to Rangers by 2015 it would have been as good as money in the bank.

His statement last month, made after a fan meeting in Glasgow, that his job was done was staggering while key figures such as Stockbridge remained in power.

McColl’s decision to do walking away undermined his own camp at a critical time.

Fans must also examine their role because it is they, more than any other group, who hold sway in the future direction of their club.

They represent 12 per cent of the stock yet don’t have a shareholders’ association.

They have an Association, Assembly and Trust and yet it took two lads with a Facebook page to unite them all under the umbrella of the Sons of Struth.

Here’s a word to the wise – the board are petrified of the fans and the economic might they wield. The only way the board can be brought to heel is by the fans and that’s why Ally McCoist is safe, despite proxying his shares to the Calderwood Supporters Club.

They don’t particularly like Ally at the top of the Marble Staircase but they need him more than ever.

It’s estimated Rangers require season ticket renewals of at least 25,000 by June to keep the club financially stable and any decision to boycott would wreak havoc.

Perhaps by that stage others, including Dave King – who has had his own issues with the taxman – may have ridden to the rescue.

But it’s suggested King is keen to deal only when shares reach rock bottom. That’s a risky strategy as a debt-free club such as Rangers would be attractive to a whole host of financial vagabonds with little regard for the club’s greater good.